Game settings for Metro 2033???

Ok, so i have now managed to get round to installing my first purchased game (above) and as a new novice gamer/owner of an M17x R2, i have heard lots of talk regarding x4aa, native res, all other gaming settings and , well, as im new, would be good to know what they all do!!

I must say that i am well impressed initially with how the above game looks (only played like 2 minutes of it!) an i have played with some game settings....ie changed to native res) and it looks better and is currently playing with no flickering etc. (not that it has anyway)

What kinda settings would be recommended for this game on my system??? - anyone have similar and can tell me what would be best etc?

Thanks

(Sorry if i have posted this in the wrong section - not sure if i have?)

 

well I could max out the game with my system so looking at your specs you should be able to max it out with even better frame rate

 

Hi Stevie

Very nice choice, a great game to play. One of the hardest games I have ever had to set up though. This game has had great reviews but not spectacular for the game play can be little rough in spots. It will take you a while to get use to the mouse and to set it up properly. This and STALKER: Call of Pripyat are Rusian games.

Mouse
You will need a good gaming mouse like Alienware Tactx or Logitech G9. I prefer these mouse as they have switchable sensitivity on top for easy adjustement. I like to set the sensitivity just below the top setting.


Windows 7 64 Mouse settings
Have all my settings about half way between slow and fast

Metro2033 settings for the Alienware M17x R2

Sound
master volume & Music volume to your listening preference. I normally set both the same just over half way.

Game Options
Crosshair ON
Fast weapon switch ON
Subtitles OFF
HINTS ON
ADVANCED PhysX ON (yes ON) Read the link I have provided

Advanced PhysX in Metro 2033 | PhysXInfo.com - PhysX News

Advanced PhysX is a Nvidia GPU process. At first glance I thought this option should be turned off for this game with AMD crossfire 5870. But after reading that link it appears that people with NON Nvidia MULTI CORE CPU will still benefit somewhat from the option irregardless of whether they have a Nvidia product or not. On a side note AMD said in November 2009 that Nvidia Advanced PhysX would be obsolete AMD: Nvidia PhysX Will Be Irrelevant - X-bit labs

Voice language English
Text language English

Controls
Keyboard (your personal taste)
Weapons submenu
Automatic weapon-mouse 4
shotgun pneumatic weapon 3
fire LMB
Aim/alternate fire RMB

Mouse
Sensitity 75%
Aim sensitibyity 100%
Invert Y axis OFF

VIDEO
DIRECT X11 OPTIONS
Resolution 1920 x 1200
Qualtiy Very high
DirectX 11
Antiialiasing AAA
Texture filtering AF4x
Gamma 50%

The mouse set up is REALLY POOR on this game and it will take you a while to figure out what works best for you. Some levels are programed better than others. Hope these settings help you.

Catalyst Control Center (settings make a big difference)
Standard set to Performance
AA use application settings or turn down to 2x if you want more FPS
AF use application settings or turn down to 2x if you want more FPS
Catalyst AI standard (read up about this setting) you may want to disable it or not
Mipmap high performance

 

This game was optimized for Nvidia GPU PhysX. That is why they have Nvidia splashed all over the game. Would be interesting to see how it plays on AMD vs Nvidia.

XIII How are you finding the mouse sensitivity set up on your system?

 

Hiya Falcon!

I too thought this would be a good choice of game...i quite like the dark atmospheric type of thing, i also bought Stalker:shadow of chernobyl to have a go at along with crysis and crysis warhead and batman arkham asylum and empire total war....i thought that these games would be a good spread to test out the system with fairly thoroughly - what dya think?

Regarding metro, if i max out all the settings, it should still play well huh? - like i said, not being used to gaming, all the various anti aliasing stuff is new to me.....im presuming that higher is better but will reduce FPS accordingly...depends if you are a graphics or gameplay person i suppose as to which settings are preferred.

Obviously, my machine is DirectX11 compatible and i have noticed the options in metro about this....do i just select Dx11 in the options or do i need to install it?? (i recall that when i loaded from disc, it did say setup:microsoft dx software)

Also, is it normal for install times to be fairly long from disc....this one took about 15-20 mins from disc to install on the steam platform.....seemed long to me but obviously again, its all new to me! (when i registered my steam account, i got Portal as a freebie d/l which took well, 2 hours to install)

You mention in your settings for this game that you run at texture filtering x4.....should i be able to up that to x16???

Regarding controls and mice, i took the option/liberty of buying a wireless xbox 360 controller for windows so allthough i havent used it yet, im assuming this will void the need for mouse/touchpad - i know these are compatable with "games for windows" but can they be used on games like "left 4 dead 2"???

Thanks once again for your comments/input....you are an absolute star and wouldnt know where to begin to thank you for your advice!

+Rep given!

 

Thanks for the +rep. Always appreciated.

Xbox 360 controller.
Windows has decimated the PC market with xbox. They have tried to prop up Windows sales I think through introducing Windows Live games all of which will function with a 360 controller. Myself I like the control and feel of a mouse much better. A mouse in my opinion gives you much more accurate aiming and stearing. The higher the DPI of the mouse the better for games. This all comes down to your personal preference. If you are use to a 360 controler than you might enjoy playing with one. Usually games that can use an Xgox control will show a picture of one on the box cover. If you haven't already done so you will probably want to order a mouse. The alienware TactX is really nice and usually on sale. Free shipping from Dell as well. You can customize TactX colors with your Alienware Fx. Left4Dead2 can use a game controller but much better to use a mouse for this game.

Great choice of games. If you like Shadow of Chernobyl(2007) you will probably like Stalker Call of Pripyat(2010). Will play those when I am done with Metro. Crysis and Crysis Warhead are two of my favorite games. Was keen to try the empire but I don't normally play RPG but that one does look interesting. I would also add Left4dead2 to your games. I did not care for the orginal Left4Dead.

Unfortunately Metro tried to make a point with Nvidia about PhysX so the game is biased towards Nividia processors. There are some mouse issues with this game as well. Even on the options page the mouse is often hard to navigate. This is true on my desktop as well so hardly the fault of the M17xR2. The game does become a little tedious having to manually reload everything and the game does have a few puzzles to figure out along the way which slows the story line down. I much prefer faster moving FPS. AAA 16x is probably too much. You find certain chapters the FPS shooter experience is better than others. Best to read reviews about games before buying and save lots of coin. The first chapter was the worst.

DX11
Any game that is optimized for DirectX usually provides you with the latest version. The problem occurs when you load older games that have older copies of directx. Yes in metro2033 you must select Dx11 option. The Dx11 driver will already be on your system when you downloaded the game.

Steam
Always better to load a game via steam rather than disk. The steam versions have the latest drivers. Sometimes it may take 2-8 hours to download off steam but better for stability to use their version. It depends on the game and the download speed.

Textured Filtering
Depends on each level. Too high and the FPS will slow down.

Catalyst
Look for a Tweek guide that will explain the detailed settings of Catalyst and what they do. If you are having FPS issues than best to override the game settings and force the GPU to performance settings in catalyst.

Game Experience.
You will find vastly different game experiences across titles/brands/ et. Most games use 80% GPU as a rule of thumb and 20% CPU. Some games play better on Nvidia and some on AMD. Some games play better on mouse and others on controler. PC game review rank games and give you a general idea as to how popular they are. Some games are simply coded better and play better. Companies like Valve make consistantly good games. Other like Windows Live do not.

Other games you should check out are Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Battlefield Bad Company 2, Left4Dead2. Farcry is an older game but still good by todays standards. Games I realy disliked are FarCry2 and Resident Evil 5. You need a 360 controler for Resident Evil 5.

 

I noticed that once i had installed metro 2033 from disc using steam that it did carry on a little bit (i think applying updates or something like) and i think it took around 20 mins all in all to install from thhe purchased copy. As opposed to the d/l portal from steam which took several hours but that sounds pretty standard from what you say.

As i havent gamed a great deal before (had a ps2 sat in the cupboard gathering dust lol) i thought i would be more comfortable with a controller to start (although i have boughht a logitech performance mx mouse - dont know if this is good for gaming but i liked the look of it!) - guess i will ave to find out by trial and error.

I also will have to learn by trial and error which settings are best for me i guess...no harm can be done right by messing with x4 or x16 etc etc....

I had always liked the resident evil series (last one i played was years ago) and had contemplated getting RE5....still might but my old favourite was code veronica.....(wouldnt think i was 36 would ya LOL )

Anyway, as at this level of gaming, its still all new, im on a steep learning curve but enjoying myself at the same time which is all good fun....

PS....regarding my a/c adaptor prob....looks like its sorted.....will explain more on that thread if you want to know the outcome of it and thanks again for the input Falcon.....catch you soon!

 

BTW Falcon, regarding CCC, should i adjust settings in there, they are all set at default at the moment after i have looked including antialiasing, mipmap etc...

How much should or shouldnt i play about with these settings?

 

Hi Stevie

By all means play with these settings. You won't do any harm. You can always turn them back to default. It really depends on the game. If you are finding the FPS lagging than you could try to reduce some quality settings to performance. Experiment with catalyst having control vs application in settings. Some settings are complex to explain so have given you a link to a tweak guide. It is dated JUNE 2009 so a year old. Some settings have changed but definately a helpful resource.

TweakGuides.com - ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide

Mouse
Your Logitech performance MX looks very nice, a review said that "they did not market this mouse a gaming mouse but of course I had to test it out at 1500DPI with some of the latest FPS games. The results were very good but not exceptional." True gaming mouse tend to go higher DPI. the Logitech G9 goes from Resolution: 200–3200 dpi (user-selectable). Too low a resolution and the game will not aim fast enough. Too high resolution and it will be hard to find pin point accuracy as mouse jumps around too much. Mouse is something personal. If you are getting great results than stick with what you have. The controls don't have the same sensitivy as a mouse and that is why some games that are Microsoft Live don't play well with a mouse, resident evil being one I didnt like the mouse sensitivity with. The Alienware tactx is really nice but has a cord. I usally just keep the cord tied up like when brand new to prevent the cord from flopping around.

 

Falcon,

Tried adjusting the settings on metro (game settings) to native res. very high. dx11 and resumed after restarting the game...it certainly looked better although it looked great in the first place but what i did notice was some lag or blurring when scrolling the mouse left right or rapid movement of view point....things seemed to blurr quite a bit if i moved te mouse about left to right rapidly....adjusted back to just high and not very high and this went....

Does this mean that its the pc that cant handle very high or is it my mouse or is there somwthing in ccc that i can do to adjust this....i mean is it that my mouse just doesnt move fast enough because i noticed this lag even on the menu/option page straight after changing to dx11/very high.....

 

Metro2033 has some 'motion' blur that simulates what moving around quickly actually looks like, however most of what you're experiencing is low FPS.

When you get right down to it, the M17x just can't run metro2033 with 10.5's maxed out all the time.

I have the *exact* same specifications as you(except 8GB vs 4) and the 100% fps proof settings for me are native res, no AAA, 4X AF (since that's the lowest setting in the game, it can be over-ridden in CCC however AF isn't very resource intensive) High textures with Directx10. *most* of the game can be played @ Directx11 with high settings, and some in very high, but very high 100% of the time is just not within the relm of possibility except in non-combat towns and zones without the complex lighting(and then what's the point lol?). Ultimately, you'll either have to overclock the GPU's a lot (since 3.3ghz on the processor didn't seem to do much for me) or try different drivers (which, you can't easily since only 10.5's are certified to work) to max out Metro 2033.

most of the CCC 'tweaking' is in reducing minimap quality settings, which is a fancy way of saying that it'll look worse.

 

Metro coding leaves a lot to be desired and certainly some chapters there is a great deal of motion blur. In some cases the motion blur is intentional (It adds to the feeling of claustrophobia) and some cases it is low FPS. They have relied heavily on PhysX which spanks AMD owners. As I posted below the PhysX feature on this game is suppose to have some benefit for certain non Nvidia GPU with multi core CPU. This game is clearly optimized for Nvidia PhysX and clearly designed to stress AMD owners. My 5970 plays slightly better but still I can't control the mouse on the friggin options page. Clearly that is nonsense designed to sell Nvidia products. Oh no I must buy a Nvidia product because my AMD cards are too weak! I must have PhysX...too funny.

I think I recall reading the PhysX was used for the smoke processing. So those chapters with heavy smoke (LIKE THE FRIGGIN OPTIONS PAGE) will have poor control. Some chapters play really well and others don't. That is a Metro problem irregardless of what AMD card you throw at it. There are certain chapters, certain scenes that both my systems have trouble on. So clearly if 960 3.2Ghz 12 GB ram and 5970 are getting bogged down than the game has poor programing in spots.

http://physxinfo.com/news/2447/advanced-physx-in-metro-2033/

Some games are optimized for a particular windows OS. Others for a particular brand of GPU, and others for a particular type of control like 360.

Detailed tweak thread http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390379

Here is a guy with 980x, dual 5970 sapphire's on an asus pt6 deluxe v2 board with 1600 12 gig ram..and the latest ati drivers/app profiles and this game still runs less than he expects. I disagree with other posters on the (AMD) link below that simply upgrading would enhance performance. This guys has about as powerful a desktop as you can buy these days and the game still waddles a bit.

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=131923

 

OMG YES I want to just full palm slap in the face whoever thought it was a good idea to put that in the main menu!

 

Hi guys...

Well, as i have played like about 5 - 10 mins of metro 2033 so far, i guess i cant comment on latter stages of the game. I noticed blurring obviously at the very start of the game, when he goes outside for the first time and in the initial scenes inside.....if this is intentional then i think thats a good idea in a sense...
I did try lowering the settings to high and this did seem to go so not so sure if its a intended reality feature or not! - more likely to be low FPS....

Oh and yeah, bloody mouse on the options page is a righht bugger....i wondered what was going on!

I was obviously aware that my Dell stock 10.5 drivers are currently the only offering that actually works kinda 100% as the 10.6's dont work quite as well from what i have read on NBR
Im wondering when 10.7 will be released and if that will rectify the ongoing driver saga for us x/f R2 owners - who knows!

 

What kind of frame rate do you get with these settings Lozz?

 

Hi Stevie

I'm running the real shebang the 10.6 FULL cataylst drivers on my desktop and I still get the motion blur sometimes with this game. The Dell drivers in my opinion are very similar. I thought that when he goes outside he becomes disoriented from the GAS and once he puts his mask on it gets better. I find I can only play this game for about 10 minutes as it is not a fast moving game. P.S. dont forget to charge the flashlght and night vision goggles.

 

right now I'm in reiga station(it's one of the smaller area's but it has some fog in it), with very high settings and directx 11 I get an average of 15-30fps with fraps. on high settings and directx 10 it jumps to to 45-50. In the menu I get an average 45-50FPS with directx10/high and the same 25-30fps with 11/very high. Directx 11/high seems possible most of the time, but the directx11 optimizations in our drivers currently are a bit subpar, so you do take a slight performance hit in this game, which means big fights or complex lighting/fog areas are going to kill FPS with it enabled. Even on 10/high settings, some very heavy fog places like the lost catacombs are 'almost' unplayable.

 

I found Directx 11 is pretty unplayable at 1920x 1200 at high settings with a single 5870 but it runs pretty well in directx 9

 

OK, so it looks like that with current Dell stock 10.5's or Ati 10.6 this game isnt really fully playable with all settings maxed out including Dx11??

Another setting i noticed which only seemed to be available after activating Dx11 was under antialiasing....had the option of "MSAFx4" but when i selected this, the game more or less crashed....what is MSAFx4 as opposed to AAA??

Still loving the game although still not played it much...sounds great via the inbuilt speakers and even better thru my gaming headphones (Steelseries SIberia)

Am looking forward to loading up the rest of my games......just noticed my spacebar is squeaking tho lol.....

 

I'm not sure a driver update will correct all the issues, but eventualy it should correct some along with maybe a game patch or two.. Although as Falcon was pointing out earlier, the game just sucks on AMD based systems since it relies on physx processing heavily.

if a 980X with 6400 shadders and 12GB of ram can't play it smoothly, there's pretty much -10000% chance a 4GBram 720QM with a mere 1600 shadders on old drivers is going to do better.

 

Putting it like that, there isnt much hope LOL
I know my system isnt as high end as that, no where near!....if i can play it like you suggest, im happy....seems pretty good to me anyway even without dx11 and very high - im used to an old dusty ps2!!!!! - this knocks the socks off that completely so i am still very happy regardless!

Thanks Lozz

 

the one thing you can do which really doesn't matter too much is turn off advanced DOF. It definitely gave me a boost in FPS.

 

Remember Lozz, im a newbie so whats that then!! lol.....also what is MSAFx4 that appears as an option under antialiasing?

 

Advanced DOF is a kind of depth of field, it basically makes objects far and close away seem distorted, just as in real life.

I think you mean MSA A MSAA is multisample anti-aliasing, it's just a fast and simple form of FSAA, they all do the same thing, which is remove the 'jaggies' on the edge of objects.

 

Yeah, your right, its MSAA x4 or AAA as my options....when i select MSAA x4, its seems to go real slow/crash....any reason for this?

Can you tell me how to enable or disable Advanced DOF then Lozz?

 

Msaa 4x is more resource intensive than aaa(which is no aa essentially)

dof is disabled trough the directx11 options when directx11 is enabled.

 

OK, i think i got it now, if i want to disable DOF, just dont use dx11 right?

 

Optimum System Requirements are:
•Core i7 CPU
•NVIDIA DirectX 11 compliant graphics card (GeForce GTX 480 and 470)
•As much RAM as possible (8GB+)
•Fast HDD or SSD

All things being equal the 5870M CF is faster than a single GTX 480M. But given this list it is obvious that this game was ment for Geforce 480 Fermi architecture.

Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

 

Lozz, are you finding the game better with Catalyst AI on or off? How is it for you with Directx11 on low settings?

Stevie when you buy games look for the AMD logo as those games are optimized for your ATI cards. If you want the 360 control than look for that logo as well.

 

I have tried the game on various settings including dx11, 10 high and very highh and with all of them i seem to get some horizontal flickering which is more apparent in darker scenes......i have heard that x/f can cause this....any of you guys experience the same problem with x/f enabled with this game??

Ive read that much on NBR about this problem, dont know if its the game or my system as the only other game thta i have d/l from steam so far (portal) also has the same horizontal flicker)

Im hoping that thisisnt going to be the same for every game that i buy otherwise it seems to be rathher irrelevant opting for a system with dual gpu's that should supposedly enhance the gaming experience and not hinder it......

Just to test things out, i did run metro with x/f disabled and lo and behold, no flicker.......but obviously i am losing the benfit of dual gpu's for performance...

 

Was testing Metro this evening and wham I got the game to fly. The video settings appear locked once the game starts. When they say you must restart the game I think they mean a NEW game. On Dx9 the mouse is far superior control. The frames on Dx9 were really good. The only way to experience this is to turn the settings you want and than restart a BRAND NEW GAME. You shouldn't have to restart a whole new game to make changes to video settings but I think you do. The low, medium, normal, high, extra high also seemed locked once the game starts. If anyone is on level one you might want to go back and restart a game and try Dx9 or Dx10. If you are trying to change Dx11 and Dx10 on the fly I don't think they are actually changing until you actually restart a Brand New Game. As I said this is the most dificult game I have ever plaid to set up. It seems to me that if you select the Right DX & the Video settings than the mouse will act normal on the options page and subsequent chapters. Have also turned off the PhysX settings. Have read conflicting reports on whether this actually uses CPU cores if PhysX is not available. Perhaps this is messing the game up for AMD users.

 

definitely not, there's a significant difference between very high and high settings on the same game for me as recorded by fraps. Directx 10 and 11 switch just fine too.

on low? you mean with DOF off? With DOF off it definitely speeds things up a bit. High fog areas are above 25-30FPS on high settings where previously it was 15-20

 

There are TWO Physx modes on this game(read comments in link below by engineer who wrote code). One advanced for Nvidia customers and a standard Physx mode for non Nvidia graphics cards that uses the CPU for some extra processing. One has to wonder what Nvidia is up to installing PhysX on non Nvidia systems. Most of the people who are complaining are high end AMD customers. So perhaps the standard mode is junk. I agree with you Lozz that you should not have to restart the game, perhaps my game got corrupted some how. The game seams to play way better on both my machines tonight so not really sure what I did? Normally games just pick the higest DirectX your system so a little goofy that they give you 3 versions to manually pick from. From what I have read the Dx11 is horribly written and will only run perfectly for Nvidia.

Once I restarted the game in directx9 the mouse was much better. Even when I went back to Dx11 the mouse was still better than before but not as good as the Dx9 mouse movements which doesn't make any sense to me? I can understad a shaky mouse during heavy scenes by why does the mouse change so radically on the options page by changing the Directx settings?


Metro 2033: Interview with 4A Games on physics.. and PhysX | PhysXInfo.com - PhysX News


Metro 2033: Benchmarks with DirectX 11 and GPU Physx - Metro 2033, Graphics Card, Benchmark, DirectX 11, GPU-PhysX - PC Games Hardware

 

Still playing about with the options page settings myself and i have noticed that the mouse cursor is very slow to react when using dx11/very high ... the game seems to switch options fine tho during the same game as i have been doing so, going back to continue after a restart of the game if so required for dx changes and i can see the differences (i dont have fraps atm so its purely a visual thing for me but differences in frame rate seem apparant even to me)

The one thing that is annoying me is the fact that with crossfire enabled, i do get horizontal flickering...as i said previously, it goes when i disable crossfire and use just one gpu.

Have only tried two games (metro 2033 and portal) but both suffer from the same regardless of video options.

Do any of you guys suffer from the same as i am now thinking that if you dont, there is a problem with my hardware.

 

Hi Stevie
The only flickering I have is when games start during load screens. While running the games not an issue. The issue is usally outdated drivers so make sure you have updated ALL the latest Dell updates for your system. start with the Bios. Also try turning off the turbo mode in the bios and see if that helps.

P.S. Metro is not the greatest 1'st game to play on AMD. The sequal will be run on Nvidia with 3D specs so obvious who the game was optimized for. Hope your next game runs better. Try something like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2, or Left4dead2 next time.

P.S. there are other threads about crossfire flickering

 

Hi Falcon...yeah have read some of those other threads about 5870 flicker.....mentions something about vsync on and off but i dont know how or where that is to do so.

Regards Dell updates, i will check i am up to date (i know i gotta update to bios a06 and a few others but i think my gpu drivers are dell stock 10.5 and are the latest available from Dell ( and from what ive heard, may as well use them opposed to 10.6 ati)

I know my system isnt top top end in terms of cpu/ram but i thought that the gpu was the limiting factor here, and as my x/f 5870's should be pretty much at the very top of mobile gpu's, i was expexting kinda to be able to play all games on very high / dx11 etc without many issues - was that me being a bit over expectant???

Anyway , have a few more games to try out (some more nvidia boased ones in batman arkham asylum) though.

Thanks again!

 

Hi Stevie

I think there are two separate flickering issues. One was native to the M17xR2 Bios/motherboard drivers and the other is generic with ATI crossfire. Everyone is bandering the term flickering so really not sure which you are refering to. Perhaps you should send Joker a PM as he has spent much time discussing this issue. I saw a youtube video I think he posted and was quite surprised at how pronounced the flickering was back in February. I thought the bios updates had fixed that so I am wondering if you are just having issues do to low frame rates? Either way there are a lot of driver updates in June/July that I don't think you have that would be a good idea to update.

Most games are 80% GPU 20% CPU as a rough estimate but ram, hard drive, CPU, PhysX all do play a factor as well. When I use to run HDD I always purchased Diskeeper software to keep my hardrive defragmented. The free windows defragementing tool is less than ideal.

http://www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/home/professional.aspx Diskeeper 2010 Professional is the one that I recommend.

The Vsync setting is found in game setups. Vsync is an older feature that was intended for cathode ray tube monitors. In theory it should have no impact on LCD but on certain games turning it OFF or ON DOES improve things. ALWAYS TRY TO RUN GAME WITH Vsync OFF FIRST. VYSYNC will limit your frames to a maximum of 60 FPS. On same games with this off you may get much higher frames. Experiment.

 

Thanks Falcon,

I have just installed Crysis from disc that i purchased....run it for about 30 seconds and found the same flickering but seemed worse....i remember reading somewhere that i need to patch this game but dont know what to do.....any advice?

Also, after installing the game, i have had a shortcut to "gamespy comrade" placed on my desktop....is this essential to play the game or what is it!!

 

I don't think Gamespy comrade is required for single player. It is used for multiplayer games. I don't use gamespy so if any has any feedback let Stevie know.

There are many places to get Crysis patches but a good place to stark would be Crytek website. You always need to get latest patch before playing game. The patch will probably have support for 5870 cf.

Crytek GmbH: Downloads

Have attached a Crysis tweak guide. It says the full version does support crossfire.

TweakGuides.com - Crysis Tweak Guide

 

Thanks Falcon.....i am in the process of downloading patch 1.2 and then will apply the hotfix as suggested by Crytek. If, as you and the guide suggest, x/f is supported, im hoping for no flicker on this one which would be great.

 

UPDATE:

Having done the above, i restarted, booted up and launched crysis.....graphics were a bit better but i still get this horrid horizontal flickering which is very annoying....its quite apparent and its like these horizontal lines flicker UP the screen like poor refresh rate.....

I again (as per the previous games i tried with crossfire enabled - metro and portal) went into CCC and disabled crossfire.....restarted the game and no horizontal flickering lines .....

Does anyone else get this with this game or others? - i have now tried three games and all suffer from the same using crossfire and all dont with it disabled......

 

Hi Stevie

Here is a post on the AMD site. They seem to be suggesting that flickering goes away for that particular game if you run the game in Dx10.

AMD Game Forums - Tree Flickering in Crysis, Crysis Warhead (Only DX9) (10.5)

I had a 2007 copy of Crysis that I couldn't get to play this year. The drivers were just too old and the patch didn't work. Rather than spend hours I just went out and bought a new copy. The reason I mention this is to point out that sometimes it is better to just purchase online via Steam than you have the latest copy.

Go to start menu and type:

dxdiag

This is a Directx Diagnostic Tool and will tell you if everything for Directx is running okay. It should tell you that you have Directx 11 on your machine and there should not be any problems.

Than run the button on the bottom of the page where it says "run 64-bit dxdiag". This doesn't actually run it but just checks the 64 bit driver.

 

Done those Falcon....the first dxdiag came up with no problems and said directx11......when i ran the othe 64bit on the second page for display, it had some notes about a driver not having a digital signature......lots of atinumbers/letters and says i may be able to get a whql logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer.

Does that mean anything to you?? - btw, the trees no longer flicker after applying patch/hotfix...just the vertical scrolling horizontal lines when crossfire is enabled

 

Hi Stevie

*loading crysis on my machine to see if I have any flickering.
*Dxdiag should not have errors.
*I would download the 5870 drivers to you desktop
*Go to control panel and CHANGE catalyst control
*Use express uninstall
*reinstall the 5870 drivers
*hopefully the registry is not corrupted
*this should fix the whql driver

 

By the way:

WHQL is an acronym for Windows Hardware Quality Labs.
The Labs provide various test suites for hardware and software including suites which allow device drivers to be tested and 'signed'. A 'signed' driver is deemed stable and ready for use on a specific operating system

 

Download from where? - dell website? - i already have the latest ones they have?

Change catalyst control - how?

Express uninstall - wheres that?

Now you know how much of a novice i am lol!

 

BTW, any flickering for you? - i get vertical scrolling of horizontal lines which go UP the screen all the time even in scenes with no action at all...happens on the menus too.....

 

Hi Stevie

Looks like Dell didn't finish their homework. I have the same unsigned drivers when i test the 64 bit. I wouldn't worry about it.

I don't have any horizontal lines in crysis. With all HIGH settings the game is a tad slow FPS. That could be fixed by turning down a bit. Why don't you research your mouse and see if there are any know issues with it causing horizontal lines. I have never used a wireless mouse so not sure if there are any issues with them. I prefer the high DPI gaming mice.

Since I have the same message your video driver is fine so you don't need to replace so disregard the previous message about resinstalling. But it wouldn't hurt to delete and reinstall in the odd chance some video driver is causing these horizontal lines. If you call Dell technical support this is the first thing they will have you do. They would probably check to make sure your card is seated properly as well. Sorry you are having so much trouble.

Control Panel
Category view
uninstall a program
ATI Catalyst install manager
Express Unistall ALL ATI Software
*****************************
Reboot computer
*****************************
Download 5870 driver from your drivers and download page specific to your calltag.
Click download link and install

 

Hi Stevie

Downloaded patch 1.1
Downloaded patch 1.2
Downloaded hotfix 1.21
Forced game to play Dx10(you do this by going to start>games menu>right click on Crisis folder. You will than see a choice for Dx9 & Dx10. Start game in Dx10)

Had settings set to HIGH, 8x AAA and had no problems and high FPS. during fire fights FPS dropped in half but still playable on high settings.

Do not know what is causing this horizontal line or this flickering you are seeing. You could try the Vsync both OFF and than ON settings.

 

Hiya Falcon....thanks again firstly for your great advice.....obviously it isnt your fault im having so many problems with this issue....apparently due to the number of threads i have seen on this forum and others that alot of c/f 5870 owners do have the same issue as me (i think joker being one of them)

I wouldnt think it would be the mouse but who knows....have also read some stuff regarding people "swapping" the cards around physically and something to do with crossfire bridges but that would be a bit too much for me to do atm (not lack of ability, just lack of confidence to want to perform open heart surgery after only a few weeks of ownership.

I will play around some more with settings in crysis, (with c/f enabled) but have read that vsync does fix the issue (not tried yet) but cuts frame rates right down so in effect, nullifying the whole reason of having a second gpu!

I thought all was going well after got my a/c issue sorted, prior to getting that done, i hadnt really done anything with my machine except install windows updates, MSE, Java update, etc.

I think if i have no joy this morning or at some point today i WILL phone Dell about this as it will continue to do my head in.

My logic dictates to me that "systems with c/f should be tested prior to release to ensure no bugs etc and are performing correctly"
It seems blatent to me that Dell just didnt bother to investigate this whatsoever and just released c/f 5870 as an option......people like me and many others including yourself then go out and buy this configuration and have to deal with so many headaches because of doing so.

I appreciate that bugs/errors/glitches happen but i think this issue has been rolling for some time now with no fix provision on Dells behalf.

I will try and post back later on with more news.....if it persists, dont know if im happy keeping the system and wonder where i stand to a replacement? - its only 3 weeks old FGS!

Also, just noticed another effect/problem - if i go to CCC, enable crossfire, click apply and then ok...if i go back to IE8, it flickers like mad on the NBR site and google.....if i close IE8 and restart, this goes....is this normal too?

UPDATE:

Have just installed/updated to A06 bios and installed synaptics touchpad driver and all seems ok with those.....

Have been playing with crysis in game settings also, still get the flicker when in crossfire, still goes away after disabling crossfire....turning vsync on also makes it go away and turning it back off, flickering returns.....cant see an option within crysis to choose between dx9/10???

Havent done anything regards uninstall/reinstall of CCC/drivers

Surely, crossfire should work well enough NOT to have to enable vsync as that cuts the frames down alot so ive read.